Rewind
by Sunlight3146
Summary: Edward Cullen wasn't able to resist the sweet scent of Bella's blood. He forgot, though, about the new security system the school had installed. The new camera security system. With the only rule of the vampire world so blatantly, and irreversibly, broken, what will the Volturi do? The Quileutes? The vampires and humans of the world as a whole?
1. Preface

Italicized sections are from _Twilight_, _New Moon_, _Eclipse, Breaking Dawn, The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner, _or _Midnight Sun_

I'm also changing the dates from 2005 to 2018, because it's easier to write about the technology now than the technology then, as well as for reasons you'll understand later (second book-later).

**Disclaimer: Stephanie Meyer owns the Twilight saga and its universe. No profit is made here and no offense intended.**

To go or not to go? That was my question.

The vampire world, and the human world, for that matter, needed help. And the only person, to the best of my knowledge, who could help them was me. But should I help? Wasn't it easier to just stand aside and let things be? It was easier, and less risky, but I knew it wasn't right. I thought of the guilt I would feel if I chose to be a bystander, to not help at all, even when I knew that I had the power to change the outcome. I sighed.

Why did I have to have such a hero complex?

Helping would pretty much rewrite me, rewrite us all. I wouldn't know that I had helped afterwards, because this version of me would disappear. But, this wasn't the time for the vampires of the world to be exposed. Exposure, if it ever happened, would have to occur slowly, and the Volturi could not be in charge. But did I have to be the one to deal with it?

I sighed again, already knowing the answer. Yes, because there was no one else in the world who could help. Yes, because my way was the best way. Yes, because innocent lives were at stake here, and only I would be willing and able to help.

And, after all, going didn't mean I would have to help. The two were not mutually inclusive. I could offer, and maybe, just maybe, they wouldn't accept. But what would happen then?

I knew what. It was obvious. I couldn't reveal who I was the to Volturi, to Aro, and expect to be able to continue my life the way it was. What I was, and what I could do prevented that. No, if I went, I would have to do it.

Despite my mental debate, I had always known the result. Just like, from what I had guessed, the other two times I had used my gift, I would always go. I would always help. Because I couldn't stand not doing so, knowing that I could change things.

Now, how could I get to Volterra, Italy?


	2. Exposure

**Disclaimer: Stephanie Meyer owns the Twilight saga and its universe. No profit is made here and no offense intended.**

Edward POV

_Her scent hit me like a wrecking ball, like a battering ram. There was no image violent enough to encapsulate the force of what happened to me in that moment._

_In an instant, I was nothing close to the human I'd once been; no trace of the shreds of humanity I'd managed to cloak myself in remained._

_I was a predator. She was my prey. There was nothing else in the world but that truth._

_(…) I was a vampire, and she had the sweetest blood I'd smelled in eighty years._

_(…) There was no room full of witnesses - they were already collateral damage in my head. (…) I would take the right side first. (…) I was in the middle of the room, the furthest row in the back. (…) I could snap four or five of their necks per second, I estimated. It would not be noisy. (…) It would take me, at most, five seconds to end every life in this room._

I sprang up, killing them all in a few seconds, my whole body turning into a blur. Her scent compelled me to ignore the cooling blood of the nineteen that now lay dead. Bella was watching me in shock. I leaped again, landing on top of her. Her blood was like nothing else I had ever tasted. Sweeter than anything I'd ever tasted, it ran dry too soon. My teeth sank deeper into her neck, but there was no more. Slowly, I let go of her.

Suddenly, a flashing green light caught my eye, and I turned towards it. There was a cylinder-shaped object jutting out of the wall, a green flashing light on a black box directly facing me. My heart sank and I stared in horror at the still-recording security camera.

* * *

Charlie POV

I had been called to the scene of the crime an estimated forty-five minutes after the crime had occurred. Estimated, because no one knew when the crime had been committed. No one understood how it was possible, that an entire classroom could be burnt, that twenty-one people could be killed, without any of them making a sound. Without the fire alarms ringing. My daughter was among the dead, and I knew that soon, reality would hit and I would grieve, but right now, I was just numb.

"Charlie!" It was my deputy, Mark. "The new camera security system! It recorded what happened!"

Silently, I moved to see the computer screen. The video loaded, and loaded, and loaded, and loaded.

"Come on, come on, come on!" Mark said impatiently. To him, this was just another assignment. His daughter, a freshman at Forks High School, was still alive.

The feed from the camera started playing. It started at the beginning of the day, so Mark skipped forward until the school's lunchtime. The teacher, Mr. Banner, entered the room first. Soon, students started to arrive. I saw my daughter enter, accompanied by the Weber girl, Angela. Bella evaluated the room, then saw that the only empty seat was by one of the Cullens. Edward Cullen.

I liked the doctor well enough, and I had even fought my best friend because the Quileutes were boycotting the hospital. I hadn't realized that one of the Cullens was in Bella's class, and I made a mental note to add the Cullens to the list of who I would have to visit. The next scene, though, changed my mind completely.

The Cullen boy grimaced, then moved like a blur. The entire right then left side of the room fell, and I realized they were dead. Then he tackled Bella, my beautiful daughter, and seemed to kiss her neck. Sometime during that extended kiss, I realized that Bella was dead.

He leaped away from my daughter's dead body after a few minutes, then seemed to realize what he had done. He stared at the camera, and his eyes were a bloody shade of red; I had never noticed their odd color before. Then, he ran off. The camera showed only the dead bodies for many minutes, until a blur appeared again and a fire was started. Quickly, too quickly to be natural, the entire classroom, and the video camera, were swallowed by the flames.

We were silent for a moment.

"Is this some sort of joke?" Mark asked besides me. I didn't see what could be vaguely humorous about the situation. I was caught up on one fact, my thoughts spinning. That my Bella hadn't been a random victim, because she had been killed for a reason.

* * *

Pandora POV

It had been hours since the Biology classroom had been discovered to be burnt up, and I was super bored. I had finished all my homework already, and my bookshelf of books wasn't enough to keep me entertained. Now, I was just waiting for my dad to get home, bored out of my mind, which was a bad sign. Just like my namesake in Greek mythology, I could never resist my curiosity, and having free time was the best way for me to get into trouble.

There had been rumors flying around school and on social media about what had happened. They ranged from somewhat possible (a fire somehow starting and burning up the entire classroom without anyone making a noise) to completely unbelievable (an alien army kidnapping the entire class to use as test subjects, then burning the building to hide the evidence). I knew that I had a better chance than anyone else, too, to find out what had happened, since my dad was the deputy police officer (and pretty much the only police officer in Forks other than Chief Swan). I knew that anything evidence my dad had, he would save onto his Google Drive, which I just so happened to have the password to. I knew that there was nothing my dad could have in his files that I couldn't hack into (it wasn't arrogance, it was just certainty). My feet were itching to walk a few steps to grab my computer out of my backpack. My fingers were itching to open the computer and start typing. My analytical brain was begging me to see what the police force of two had found out about the mysterious fire. My phone was begging me to post what I would learn onto my social media, so my friends would know, too.

With a soft groan, I surrendered. I crept downstairs with practiced ease, never stopping because the rhythm of my father's snores remained constant, took the computer (and noted its exact position and the placement of the other various objects in the office), ran softly back upstairs, and closed and locked the door. Just in case.

I felt kind of bad as I typed in my dad's password, Dora31504 (Dora was my nickname, March 15, 2004 was my birthdate). It was easy to see how much my dad cared for me. After all, since my mom had died when I was four, it had only been the two of us. That had led to some awkward times, but we were, in general, happy. Still, the pull of discovery overpowered my desire to be trustworthy. I just couldn't resist the curiosity. Good thing I wasn't a cat.

The files were easy enough to find; whatever his other flaws, Dad was extremely well-organized and analytical. The folder held only a single video. The title, though, was enough to make me pause. '20180118_BioCamVideo_Vampire'. Was this some sort of joke?

I opened the file, and watched the video. I was shaking by the end. I had now realized why Dad had said nothing about it, why no one had heard anything about it on social media. The blur that must have been Edward Cullen (insert dreamy sigh), had killed nineteen people without a pause. What was creepiest, though, was the sight of him drinking her blood. Bella Swan. The police chief's daughter.

I would have dismissed it as some sort of cruel joke, but it coincided too well with the facts I knew, and nothing else I'd heard fit. It fit the scenario. How else could twenty people have died without making a single sound? How else could such a fire have been started? It fit the Cullens. There must have been something supernatural about them; there was the ultra-graceful way they walked, the way everyone stayed away from them, the extreme beauty, the fact that they always missed school on sunny days. The video, though. Edward drinking Bella's blood. I forced myself to ask the question, because I had reached the same conclusion as my dad obviously had. Could they be vampires?

I knew what I had to do. My dad and Chief Swan had obviously hidden the video for a reason, because they didn't want to scare the public, or to start a witch hunt if the video wasn't true, but there was no doubt in my mind. The Cullens were vampires, and the world needed to know.

I sent the video to myself, then downloaded it onto my Samsung. I hesitated a moment. Was this the right decision? Could there be some other reason why the police force didn't want the public to know? It was too late, though. I had to do something. I posted the video, along with a short caption.

Facts: Twenty people were mysteriously killed in a fire in the Biology classroom of Forks High School. No fire alarms were tripped, and no sounds were heard across the building. New student Isabella Swan was among those who died. Theory: Vampires killed them.


	3. Fallout

**Disclaimer: Stephanie Meyer owns the Twilight saga and its universe. No profit is made here and no offense intended.**

Jasper POV

Emotions were running wild within me, and it took all my control not to let them escape and rebound onto my family nearby. I had never felt so out of control since, well, since my newborn days.

There was anger at Edward for messing up in such plain sight, with a camera recording all of his actions, for him not cleaning up after himself, for him putting us in such danger with the Volturi. There was smugness and dark humor, because it was Edward who had messed up, Edward who had killed a human, and not me. There was jealousy from my vampire side, because Edward had gotten to drink human blood. There was outrage, because he had killed nineteen other humans without drinking their blood, and part of me thought that that was a waste. There was thirst, because the idea of drinking human blood seemed even closer than ever. Then, there were the emotions from the others. Despair and unworthiness streamed from Edward. Mourning from Alice. Anger from Rosalie, confusion from Emmett, love and sympathy from Esme, and concern from Carlisle.

We were all hoping that Chief Swan and the other investigators of the case would forget to check the camera footage, or that the data would be irretrievable because of the fire. It was only this hope that kept us in Forks. The hope, and the need to know what conclusion had been reached. If we fled now, maybe we would become even more suspicions.

Then, I saw the post. My heart sank. It was everything we had hoped to avoid, and worse.

"Look at this," I said quietly. My family came, huddling around my computer's screen. We all read the words.

Vampire Attack at Forks High School? By Pandora Adams

Pandora Adams, daughter of police deputy Mark Adams, freshman at Forks High School, was a notorious gossip. If she knew, everyone in Forks would soon know. And all of those people would have connections, who would have connections, who would have connections. There was no way we could keep this quiet.

* * *

Jacob POV

From the moment he had heard about the mysterious deaths of a class of students at Forks High School, my dad had been set on one idea. Vampires had done it. Nothing I said did anything to change his mind. It was completely ridiculous. Everyone knew that vampires didn't exist, but my dad was convinced that it had been some conspiracy with the Cullen family. I felt kind of bad for the family; it was the conviction that they were vampires that kept all Quileutes from the Forks hospital, and they had to have some suspicion about it.

Now, my dad was upset about the Cullens 'breaking the treaty', probably the treaty in the legends about the Cullens not biting a human, and that there 'weren't enough wolves', probably the werewolves of the legends. He kept looking at me as if he expected me to suddenly become a massive wolf. Like I said. Completely ridiculous.

"We should visit Charlie," he was muttering, "but he likes the Cullens. He'd never believe me if I told him they were vampires, and we'd just end up fighting again."

I sighed, not wanting to listen to my father's internal debate, then checked my phone. I went onto my social media apps by default. I stared at the screen in disbelief. Apparently, my dad wasn't alone in believing that vampires had been the ones who'd started the fire, because a video and post about it claimed that vampires were responsible. This had to be a joke, right? One of the other Quileutes, making fun of the elders' belief in vampires?

I didn't recognize the name, Pandora Adams. Maybe a false name? Dad had left the room, so, with the sound off, I watched the video. By the end, I was shaking with rage. Somehow, I knew beyond doubt that what I had watched was true, that the legends were true, that those twenty people had been murdered by bloodsucking, murderous vampires.

My dad came back into the room and saw me shaking. Wordlessly, he led me outside. He knew what was happening.

"Just let it happen, Jake," he told me. "Don't try to fight it."

I phased.

Great, another one, was the first thing I heard. The voice sounded vaguely familiar. Leah Clearwater? There were other voices in the background, Sam Uley explaining about phasing to Embry, Quil, and Seth Clearwater, Paul Lahote and Jared Cameron teasing each other.

Welcome to the pack, Jacob, Sam said. Jared, can you explain?

I learned that the leeches' killing of the students had spurned the transformations of five new werewolves, Leah, Embry, Quil, Seth, and me. I learned about how phasing worked, how the pack was structured, imprinting, and more. During that time, two new werewolves joined, Brady Fuller and Collin Littlesea.

The bloodsuckers have broken the treaty, Sam declared, once it was clear that no one else would join today. They have killed many humans, and their crimes must be punished. But we must be careful. There are seven of them, after all, and only ten of us. We must train to fight and kill them before we can mount an attack. We howled in agreement, our voices echoing all throughout the reservation.

Those leeches had better watch out, because we were going to take them down.

* * *

Peter POV

The word, 'vampire', was what had caught my attention. Normally, neither Charlotte nor I paid attention to the television at the library, but the only rule of the vampire world, secrecy, had trained me to pay attention whenever I heard the word vampire. Most of the time, what was said was completely irrelevant and not at all a danger to secrecy. This time, though, was different.

The heading was the first thing that caught my attention. Vampires in Forks, Washington. Forks, where Jasper and his family lived. Forks, where Charlotte and I were headed, to visit our friends. Was it a coincidence? I hoped so.

"On January 18, 2018, a mysterious fire broke out in the biology classroom of Forks High School. Mysterious, because the fire alarm never rang, and because the twenty-one people inside the building were never seen again. Most assumed that it was some freak accident, but Pandora Adams, daughter of the town's deputy police, thinks differently. The freshman computer genius at FHS hacked into her father's account, and found an unusual video, taken from the classroom's single security camera."

A video played, showing students entering the classroom, a familiar bronze-haired boy sitting at the desk, then attacking the students and drinking a brown-haired girl's blood. The sight made my throat burn slightly, but I was more focused on what had just happened. I barely registered the news reporters words.

"… Miss Adams immediately came to the same conclusion that her father had: that Edward Cullen, the culprit seen in the video, was a vampire. She knew that she had to show the world, to warn them about the vampire family living in Forks, and posted the video onto her social media …"

I met Charlotte's dark crimson eyes, and I knew we were thinking the same thing. What had the Cullens gotten themselves into?


	4. Irreversible

**Disclaimer: Stephanie Meyer owns the Twilight saga and its universe. No profit is made here and no offense intended.**

Heidi POV

"You're … a vampire!" the man gasped, staring at me with wide turquoise eyes. I was beyond shocked. Where had that come from? How could he know? Was he being serious?

"Just like the ones … on social media." At these words, I morphed from a fisher to a guard member. If some vampire had revealed the secret, on social media, we would definitely need to step in and clean up.

"Tell me what you mean," I purred, stroking his cheek, knowing that he wouldn't be able to resist. No one could ever resist.

He started hyperventilating, and I backed off a bit. He needed to be able to talk.

"There … a video … vampire killing a classroom … drinking blood … all over the Internet." Internally, I felt a mixture of both disgust and delight. How could a vampire be so stupid as to let himself be caught feeding on video? But, at the same time, punishing the vampire would be a break from the monotonous cycle of finding prey to bring back to Volterra.

"Show me," I commanded. Obediently, he pulled out his phone, turned it on, and clicked around a few times to load a video. I watched with disdain. Human technology was changing so quickly, too quickly in my opinion, especially since I had to keep up with all of it to best fulfill my job.

He turned the screen towards me and played. It wasn't too good quality footage, but even a human could see what happened, and obviously, a human had. The vampire in the video, strangely enough, had the gold eyes of an animal-drinker. I wondered what could have prompted him to drink the blood of a human; the only other vegetarian I had met, Carlisle Cullen, had held an iron hold on his beliefs. I read the caption under the video. Forks, Washington, apparently, would need a visit, and soon.

But I would need evidence to show the others. Aro could read my mind easily enough, but exposure of such scale was a serious crime.

"Tell me your password," I told the man. He had been staring, mesmerized, at my now dark blue eyes, the result of blue contacts on thirsty black eyes.

"Capital P-a-s-s-w-o-r-d-#-1-2-3-4," he said quickly. I almost scoffed. He was so uncreative.

I slid the phone from his hand, and draped my arm across his neck. I was thirsty, and it wouldn't be good for him to tell others about this encounter.

Once I finished him, my eyes now a vivid shade of violet, I burned the body and boarded a taxi to the airport. Destination: Volterra, Italy.

* * *

Alice POV

My head was swimming with visions, all kinds of futures appearing and disappearing as the hundreds of people now involved in our future decided, then changed their minds, again and again. The Volturi finding out, Peter and Charlotte coming, a strange blankness, the humans of Forks storming our house with Charlie Swan in the lead, some teenage girls trying to install cameras into our house, Edward leaving to the Arctic, our Denali cousins coming, and much more. No matter what I watched, though, one idea was present throughout: death. No matter what we or anyone else did, there would be bloodshed.

Part of me was focused on gathering as much information as possible to save my family, but another part of me was in the past. Why hadn't I seen Edward attacking Bella? Since her being his singer, and him attacking her, hadn't been a conscious decision, I should have been able to see it! Could there be something wrong with my visions? Could I just have been too focused on Jasper's future? Was it all my fault?

Suddenly, one of the futures cleared up, commanding my attention. I gasped quietly, drawing the attention of the others, who had been debating whether or not we should leave. They gathered around me as my words came out in one long breath.

"The Volturi are coming. All of them. Many of us will die, and those who don't will become part of the Guard. Nothing I've seen gives us even the slightest chance of survival." I grimaced at the visions of Edward, Carlisle, Esme, Rosalie, and Emmett dead, and Jasper and I with dark cloaks, part of the Volturi guard. Although I believed, now, that there was nothing that could make me betray my family, my visions showed otherwise. I couldn't get the image of Jasper with blood-red eyes out of my head. Why would we ever choose to join the Guard that would kill our family?

My family was silent for a moment, imagining the future we all had been expecting, before they spoke again.

"What can we do?" Esme asked, her golden eyes filled with worry for our family. I knew, without being a telepath, that her thoughts would be filled with love for us all, and fear that our family would be torn apart.

I shrugged helplessly. None of the decisions I made ended in a happier ending. If we fled, the tracker, Demetri, would find us. If we stayed, we would definitely die. If we asked for help among our friends, those who stayed would die, too. The Volturi was too powerful, with too many gifts on their side. No one could stand against them.

Carlisle was focused on another part of what I had said. "All of them?" he echoed. "Even the wives?" I nodded.

"I don't know why, but yes. Even the ancients, even the wives."

_"The wives never leave the tower,"_ Jasper contradicted quietly. _"Never. Not during the southern rebellion. Not when the Romanians tried to overthrow them. Not even when they were hunting the immortal children. Never."_

_"They're coming now," _I whispered. I could see the two drifting black-cloaked figures, surrounded by a few guard members, behind the vast field of gray that was the Volturi guard. "Maybe because there are so many of us?"

They were all silent again. Rosalie opened her mouth, then hesitated, looking at Edward. I knew what she was going to say.

Edward, who hadn't spoken, or even seemed to have been paying attention to our conversation, looked at her, then the rest of us, then away again. "There's one other option," he said in a flat, dead tone. "You could give me up."

Esme's eyes flashed. "Never," she exclaimed fiercely. "You are part of our family. We would never sacrifice you so the rest of us could live."

"It's the most logical option," he argued, still not looking at us. "I'm the one who broke the law, and I've seen Alice's visions. Either way, I'm going to die. They would never let me live, not after what I did. The whole human world, thanks to technology, now knows about it, and there's nothing we can do. There's no point of all of you dying with me."

We all knew that it was the most logical option, but the decades we had all spent with Edward kept us from agreeing. Then, I thought back to what Edward had said. The whole human world knew about vampires, and there was nothing we could do. But it wasn't just us. There was nothing the Volturi could do, either. They couldn't go back in time to prevent the video from being leaked. Even if Edward, and the rest of our coven, died, the damage was already done. There was no way they could cover it up again, no way that humans could continue to live in ignorance of the supernatural.

Before I knew it, I had a plan. And, though there were too many decisions involved, I could see that there was a chance it would work. A microscopically small chance, but nevertheless, a chance.

* * *

Thyme POV

"Mmmm," I sighed in contentment as I sipped my cup of rose tea. Although I disliked most foods, tea was something I could not live without (as opposed to coffee, which I absolutely hated). Just in time to spoil my mood, though, my alarm rang, signaling that it was time for me to get to my first class of the day. I sighed again, then packed all of my bags. Call me a Goody-Two-Shoes, but I believed in rules and following them, at least most of the time, even if they were disrupting my perfect morning.

My first class, though, I expected to be boring, per usual; I was really regretting my decision to study mythology. There was nothing I found more mind-numbing than reading a bunch of old books for hours. I was good at the course, just like I was for everything (hey, it's not arrogance if it's the truth), but my heart just wasn't into it. A good portion of the class felt the same way as I did, but today, there was an odd buzz going about. Though I usually didn't interact with my classmates, today, I slid next to a group who was talking animatedly. What was this about?

"What's going on?" I asked, directing my attention at a peppy girl with curly blond pigtails (who wore pigtails in college?) who seemed to know the most. They all looked a bit shocked to see me, probably because I had never given them the time of day before, or because of my strange appearance: short golden-brown hair and dark grey eyes on an unusually pale (and beautiful) face.

Pigtails was the first to recover. "Haven't you heard?" she asked, obviously knowing the answer to that question. "There's a video that's been going around social media recently, about vampires, of all things, and its gained so much attention that they're covering it in the news. They've called in a mythology expert to discuss it, and it's Professor Burton! Our Professor Burton," she added, as if it weren't already obvious.

I was intrigued. A vampire video? Was it the real thing, or was it just a hoax? "Could I see the video?" I asked, certain that Pigtails would have it on her phone.

She didn't disappoint. "Sure!" she replied, turning on her phone. The panda case smiled at me for a few seconds, before she turned the screen to face us. Even those who obviously had already seen the video moved to see it again.

I sucked in a gasp as I watched the vampire boy lash out at the other students, killing them instantly, before he drank the blood of a brown-haired human girl. This was real all right. I knew it, and probably, every other human who had seen the video knew it. Though we all knew that computer animation existed, there was something real about the action that no human could have doubted. An intangible difference between fantasy and reality, that no movie could capture, but that this video possessed. The caption of the video, which provided a few details of the event, could only have proved the reality of the event to the logical mind.

Then, it hit me. Humans realizing that the event had really occurred was a bad thing, a horrible thing, not only to the vampire coven who had committed the crime. What would the Volturi do? What could the Volturi do? Even if they killed the coven, humans would know. There would be no going back, because they had no way to change the past. And what would happen then? With the main law of the vampire world broken, other vampires would see no reason to keep their existence a secret. The Volturi would fall, in some way or another, and with them, the laws, including those against immortal children and newborn wars. Humans would be treated as little more than animals, and vampires would rule over them all, slaughtering them by the thousands. Maybe things wouldn't happen exactly that way, but there was no way the world could stay the same as it had before the video.

Unless…

I groaned, then looked back to the other students. My thought process had been so fast that they hadn't even noticed it. "I have to go," I said quietly, then left the room. Maybe they would remember me, but most likely, my existence would be overshadowed by future events.

I walked quickly back to my room, then closed and locked the door. I had ensured, at the beginning of the year, that my room was entirely soundproof. I pulled out my phone, then dialed a number I didn't dare record in my contacts, but that I had memorized.

"Hello?" the bell-like voice on the other side asked.

"Sage," I responded, then took a deep breath. He wasn't going to like this. "Have you heard about the video?"


	5. Decisions

**Disclaimer: Stephanie Meyer owns the Twilight saga and its universe. No profit is made here and no offense intended.**

Saran POV

What's with this new vampire craze? All you need to know about real-life vampires.

Everyone's heard about it, it's all anyone's ever talking about nowadays. But is there really truth to this vampire business? How did it get started? What do we, humans, know now?

Why did all of these vampire suddenly appear? As far as we can tell, vampires have been present for a long time, but they, for some reason, have been keeping their existence a secret from us humans. Until a video showing one of them drinking blood from a girl was leaked onto social media, and then, it exploded. It seems that the other vampires didn't see a reason to keep their existence a secret, so they stopped trying. So far, we've seen massacres all across the world by very visible vampires.

What do we know about them? Are all the myths about the vampires true? Let's go through the facts about vampires. 1. Vampires sleep in coffins during the day, and only come out at night. We don't know about the sleeping in coffins, but we know that vampires aren't restricted to nighttime behavior. 2. Vampires burn in sunlight. We'll talk about this more later, but it seems that vampires actually sparkle like diamonds in the sunlight. 3. Vampires are extremely pale, beautiful, and strong. This certainly seems to be true, based on what we've seen of vampires in videos. 4. Vampires can be destroyed by beheading or a stake through the heart. As attempts to destroy these beings have shown, neither of these methods actually work. It seems like real-life vampires have impenetrable skin, and that it's impossible for a human to kill one. 5. Vampires are repelled by garlic and holy symbols, and must be invited into a household to enter. Again, we're not entirely sure about if these traits are true or not. 6. Vampires can shapeshift into bats or other animals, and can appear as mist. No one's found proof for or against this, because none of the vampires we've seen so far have done any of these things. 7. Vampires cast no reflection in mirrors, and have no shadow. Neither of these seem to be true, as we've seen vampire reflections and shadows before. 8. Vampires drink blood. We don't need to say anything more about this.

So, what are humans doing to protect ourselves from these thought-to-be-mythical beings? For starters, governments all over the world are trying to keep them from public places, mostly public transportation, for now. At airport security checkpoints, travelers must submit to humanity tests in order to be allowed through. Additionally, specially trained agents are conducting random searches of homes and businesses to uncover vampires, though it seems that most don't participate in the community and attend schools like the first vampire did. People are encouraged not to stay too long at large, public areas, where vampires are most likely to strike.

Stay safe!

Written by Saran Gopal

* * *

Caius POV

I was furious at Aro. His indecision was the only reason why we weren't in Forks right now, punishing the coven for their revealing of the secret. He had refused to do anything more than send scouts to Washington, acting wary due to the rumors of the animal-drinking coven founded by his old friend, Carlisle, rumors of vampires with powerful gifts and a large coven size. Now, humans were screening airplane entrance, subjecting each flyer to a test to make sure they weren't secretly vampires. Most of the tests were complete pointless, like touching a cross or eating garlic, based on some myths we had spread hundreds of years ago, but others could really reveal a vampire, like sunlight exposure, heartbeat detection, or skin hardness and temperature. As a result, no vampire could fly anywhere on a public airplane anymore. There were still private airplanes, but those were routinely being screened, too, for 'international security.'

So far, we had sent Demetri and Alec to the United States to find the coven and to report back. Aro was optimistic and thought they'd be back within a few days. I thought it would take weeks, if not months.

The guard was working overtime, now, traveling place to place to kill the explosion of law-breaking vampires, who didn't see a point in keeping the secret now that the secret was out. I knew that the only way to solve the problem was to make a public example of the first coven, the Forks coven, but Aro refused to do anything yet. He not-so-secretly wanted all of the talented vampires that might or might not exist in the coven, to join us. All he cared about was power, not even maintaining the law. I, on the other hand, knew that the only way the vampires of the world were going to respect us and fear us again was to punish all who disobeyed publicly and obviously. Maybe, we could even rule over the humans - it wasn't as if there was a point in us keeping the secret from them.

I was trying to convince Aro and Marcus, though mostly Aro, of my point, when the letter came. The human secretary, Gianna, delivered it personally, her eyes wide at the address. Forks, Washington. What could the rule-breaking coven possibly have to say?

Aro opened the envelope silently.

To the Volturi Coven,

You don't need to come to Forks to get us. We're coming to Volterra. We'll see you in a few weeks - that's how long it'll take us to get there.

Sincerely, the Cullen Family

* * *

Sage POV

The moment I heard Thyme's voice on the phone, I knew something was up. Quietly, to ensure that she wouldn't hear in the background over the phone, I left the house and started running to her dormitory at the University.

"Have you heard about the video?" Thyme asked. Why was she asking? She knew I didn't like all the new-fangled technology, and that I never watched videos or anything like that.

"No…" I answered cautiously.

She told me about the leaked video of a vampire attacking a human. Before she said anything more, I knew what she wanted to do.

"Absolutely not! You are not going to use your power to stop this."

"Well, you can't stop me!" Like the teenager she really was, Thyme hung up. I could hear her throwing things in her room - though she thought the room was completely soundproof, if a vampire was really trying, he could hear into the room anyway.

"Stupid vampire, trying to stop me from doing things when I don't have to get his permission anyway!"

Didn't she see that I just wanted the best for her? Who knew what kind of danger she might be in from the Volturi and from vampires? Everyone knew that the Volturi collected vampires with special powers, or unusual beings, and Thyme definitely qualified. But the life of a guard was not what was best for my Thyme. We had both agreed on that, when we had first learned what her power was. To even risk such a future would be insanely stupid for her.

I smelled her first, a scent I would have recognized anywhere. Thyme's scent, racing towards the dormitory far faster than a human could run. I heard the accelerated heartbeat second. Carefully hiding myself in the trees nearby, I watched as Thyme ran up to the dormitory where Thyme was and rang the doorbell. I knew what was happening, though anyone else would have been perplexed. A Thyme of the future had finally decided to use her gift, traveling back in time and changing the past, to contact the Thyme I knew, from this version of the present.

My Thyme opened the door, then gasped as she took in herself. We had never met a version of herself from the future before, at least, not in this reality.

"Thyme," the other Thyme said. "I've come to warn you."

"Come in," my Thyme replied.

I heard them sit down, then crept to the window, peaking in. One of the Thymes held the other's hands in her palms.

"Thyme," she said. "You know you have to go. You're going to decide to go anyway, like you always have, and all of this decision time is just going to delay your arrival. You'll get there too late. The humans are screening the airplanes; it's going to take a long time for you to get to Italy. You'll be too late."

"The vampire coven will be dead? That's what happened in your future?" my Thyme asked.

"Yes," the other one replied. "With them dead, nothing will be able to change. You need to go, now."

"But Sage doesn't think I should go," Thyme protested. "He'll resist if I try to ask him to go."

"You know what you'll have to do," was all the other Thyme said. Then, she disappeared from the room, and from this world. Her time was up; objects from different futures could never stay more than five minutes. That was all it took for Thyme to make a difference.

I entered the room from the window without asking permission. Thyme looked up at me, her grey eyes angry.

"You can't stop me from going," she said before I could say anything. "It's entirely my decision."

I knew it was, but there was a part of me that refused to let Thyme go. Couldn't she see that I just wanted the best for her? "No, you're not going," I responded. "You don't have to be the hero all the time, Thyme. Maybe the world can save itself, just this once. And just imagine how much danger you'll be in. From the Volturi, from that other coven, even from the vampires you'll meet on your journey. And you might not even be able to change things. Didn't the last version of you fail, too? What if it's just not within your power to change things this time?"

She looked away from me. When she spoke, it was with a cold voice. "I see how it is. You're just too much of a coward to do this, or to let me try. I'm the only chance this world has, and I am going to help." She stood up and quickly packed everything she owned. It wasn't much. "I am going to Volterra, and you are not coming with me. Not now, not ever. Even if you're too scared to do this, I'm not. I'm going to do this."

Thyme walked out the door. I let her. Her words hurt, probably like they were supposed to, mostly because I knew that they were true. Ever since I'd lost Parsley, I'd been a coward, too scared of losing those I loved to ever dare to do anything. But Thyme had a future in front of her. She was all grown up now, she could make her own decisions, even if they were the wrong decisions.

She didn't look back. I watched as my thirteen-year-old daughter walked out the room into the unknown.


	6. Gone

**Disclaimer: Stephanie Meyer owns the Twilight saga and its universe. No profit is made here and no offense intended.**

Mark POV

"Excuse me?" a quiet voice asked me. I looked up and saw the most beautiful girl I'd ever seen. She had honey brown hair, dark silver eyes, and pale flawless skin. Her clothing, which would have looked plain on anyone else, complimented her complexion perfectly. She reminded me of the beautiful Cullens, but she couldn't have possibly been a vampire. Her eyes were the wrong color for that, and she was out in the sunlight.

"Yes, miss?" I managed to get out without stuttering. "Can I help you?"

"Actually, Chief Adams, you can," she said, flashing a dazzling smile. "I was wondering, is this the place where the first vampire videos came out?" Oh. She was one of them. My opinion of her dropped immediately.

"If that's what you're looking for, I'm afraid I cannot help you. Don't you people realize what an impact you have on all those poor families, trying to recover from their losses? You're a daily reminder of their kids' deaths!" No matter how gorgeous she was, if she was here to intrude on the lives of our little community, she was not welcome.

She shot me a surprised glance, then pulled out an ID. "Thyme Nelluc, Department of Homeland Security. You may refer to me as Agent Nelluc. I've been sent to investigate the house of the alleged vampire coven. It has been reported to be empty, correct?"

My view of her changed again. Not only was she beautiful, but she was also, it seemed, a government agent. And she was asking me for help?

I realized that she, Agent Nelluc, had asked me a question. "Oh, yes," I replied hurriedly. "Yes, they've left. The house, though it really should be called a mansion, has been abandoned for about a week now."

She nodded, her beautiful hair rustling a bit in the breeze. It distracted me from what she was saying for a moment, before I told myself strictly to concentrate. I was a trained police officer, Forks police chief, now that poor Charlie Swan had resigned. I couldn't be distracted by a pretty dace. I had to focus.

"And do you, by any chance, have a key to the house? If not, I'll be forced to take more … extreme … methods, to enter."

I could just imagine her karate chopping the door down, without breaking a sweat, while looking absolutely amazing. Focus!

"No," I said in a daze. "We don't have a key. Just, do what you need to."

She nodded again, then turned to leave. She looked over her shoulder. "Oh, and thank you for your help, Chief Adams. I truly appreciate it."

I watched her as she walked away, completely distracted from my work. You could only see a beauty like her once in a lifetime, after all.

* * *

Alec POV

"Demetri?" I called out. "Demetri?" There was no response. I knew what he had done. It was common knowledge that most of the guard hated and feared my sister and I. We were known as the witch twins, after all, and we had powers beyond anything they could even dream of. I had been half expecting this, that Demetri would abandon me the first moment he got, to track the Olympic Coven down on his own. I was actually surprised that it had taken him this long to get rid of me; we were already in Washington State.

I aligned myself west. I was going to continue my mission to scout out the Olympics, with or without Demetri's help.

When I could smell salt in the air, I knew I was close to the coast. I could find my way to Forks from there. Suddenly, I smelled something horrible, like a wet dog. Multiple wet dogs. I almost covered my nose in disgust, even as venom pooled in my mouth and my body prepared itself to attack something. What was it? There was a slight rustling in the bushes, and I immediately turned to it. Without warning, something leapt out of the bushes behind me. I turned to see a gigantic, pitch black wolf. No, not a normal wolf. A werewolf.

Instinctively, my mist shot out of me. It hit the closest, the black wolf, first, but quickly spread to the others who had surrounded me. I counted seven wolves, all frozen around me.

It occurred to me that I had no idea how to destroy a werewolf. I had never met one; it had always been Jane who had accompanied Caius on his werewolf hunting trips, because he wanted the beasts to suffer as much as possible before their deaths. I approached the first one. I was pretty sure I could tear it to pieces, then burn it, just like I would a vampire. Quickly, I built a fire, then started with the largest, throwing the pieces into the fire, which swelled larger and larger.

I was at the sixth wolf when it happened. Before I could realize what was happening, my arm was on the ground, torn clean off. I gritted my teeth against the pain, but the shock was enough to distract me and release the two remaining wolves, a light grey and a dark brown one. They pounced on me, assisted by three other, smaller wolves. It hurt so much. I knew they were killing me. There were too many for me to fight, and though I did manage to do some damage, I could never maintain a presence of mind to use my gift again.

The last thing I saw were the furious black eyes of the light grey wolf.

* * *

Seth POV

I wasn't stupid. I knew why Sam wanted Brady, Collin, and I to stay at the rez. He thought we were too young to handle action, but we weren't! At least, I wasn't! I wanted to get revenge on the bloodsuckers, just as much as they did. It wasn't my fault that I was only fourteen!

But when Sam said that I had to protect the other two, who were a year younger than me, I had to agree. They were so young, not even out of middle school, and I had to protect them.

I watched jealously, in wolf form, as the pack stalked a small male vamp. He didn't even seem to notice their presence. The whole pack was thinking about how easy the kill was going to be. They were excited, too. Our first bloodsucker kill!

Suddenly, he turned towards Sam, who had leapt. I saw though the others' eyes how Sam froze, and through Sam's mind how everything had suddenly disappeared. He couldn't see his surroundings, couldn't hear the attack, couldn't feel the ground beneath him, couldn't smell the sickly sweet vampire scent. Before the others could react, it went dark for them, too.

I howled. Brady, Collin, come on! We've got to help them!

We ran quickly to where the rest of the pack was. As I sprang, I noticed the sight around me. It sickened me. The small leech had torn Sam, Jake, Paul, Embry, and Quil to pieces, then had thrown them into the fire. He was just about to kill Jared when I tackled him, tearing off his arm. Brady and Collin quickly followed.

I saw in relief when Leah and Jared's senses returned, and they joined the fight. It was easy enough to tear him apart, and we were all fueled by the rage of our lost brothers. It was over within minutes. As the purplish smoke from him-it, filled the air, we howled for the five he had killed. They probably could have heard us all the way in Seattle, but we didn't care. Our brothers were dead, our pack halved in size.

As we mourned, I couldn't help but think. What kind of life were we living?


	7. Changes

**Disclaimer: Stephanie Meyer owns the Twilight saga and its universe. No profit is made here and no offense intended.**

Jane POV

I flipped through the book I had read so many times, not really paying attention to the words on the page, bored out of my mind. Most of the guard, including me, was here in Volterra, waiting for the arrival of the Olympic coven, other than Demetri and Alec, who had been sent out before Aro had received the postcard. I was envious of them; right now, anything seemed better than the monotony within the castle.

And then, it happened. It was as if a part of me suddenly had disappeared, as if a cold, black emptiness had filled me instantaneously. It hurt so, so badly, a pain second only to the pain of the burning that was my clearest human memory. I screamed, the sound echoing throughout the empty halls, because I knew, beyond any logical doubt, that my brother Alec was dead.

The sound of my high-pitched voice drew others, many of whom had never seen me looking so weak before, huddled in a ball like a frightened human. I didn't care, anymore. The blankness, the hurt in my heart from my knowledge that Alec was dead, reigned above all else. I couldn't stand the pain. It was too much for me to bear. Nothing I could do made it better.

I saw Felix smiling a little, and suddenly, my sole desire became to make them all hurt like I was hurting. I fueled the pain to my own gift, and suddenly, they were all screaming. Every single being inside the castle, from the vampire crowd surrounding me to the human receptionist at the front desk to the ancients in their throne room, was now feeling the extreme of my burning gift, powered by my pain at losing Alec and my anger at the injustice in the world. Why did the universe have to take Alec? Why did the person who had cared and understood me best have to be gone?

Finally, my brain understood what my heart and soul had known all along. Alec was dead. He would never calm me down in one of my tempers, never understand what I was feeling without me saying a word, never smile at me to let me know that everything was all right. My gift receded into me, and around me, vampires gasped in relief to the end of the pain I had caused. My grief was not over, though. It had found a different channel. Revenge.

I held on to the only thing that could take me out of the black hole that was my pain. Revenge. It was all the Olympic coven's fault. If they hadn't broken the only law of our world, Alec wouldn't have been sent practically unaccompanied to find them, and my twin never would have died. My sole purpose in life became making the Olympic coven pay. By the time I was done with them, they would be begging for death.

* * *

Demetri POV

She was neither human nor vampire; her heart beat faster than a human's, her skin did not sparkle in the sunlight like a vampire's, her scent was like a mixture of the sweetest perfume and the most delicious food, her eyes were dark grey, and her veins pumped blood. She watched me with a frightened glare, her fists clenched as if she were willing to fight me, despite the fact that I was obviously stronger, faster, and less breakable.

"What are you doing here?" she half growled at me.

"I could ask the same about you," I replied. "A dark alleyway is not somewhere a young lady like you should be."

She snorted at that. "You don't know anything about me. There aren't any vampires in this city, so why are you here?"

I was almost startled by her casual mention of vampires, but then I realized a few things. One, vampires weren't exactly secret anymore. And two, she was obviously not human, which meant that she had to know something about the supernatural world, even before the exposure.

"I'm just passing through," I said casually, careful not to reveal too much. "And you?"

"The same." It seemed she was a cautious one, too.

She turned away and ran off at a speed much faster than a human's, but slower than a vampire's. Before she could disappear, though, she turned back to me.

"By the way, you aren't going to get a meal here. I've already been waiting for hours." Then, she disappeared. I thought back to what she said. She'd been waiting for hours. Did that mean that she drank blood?

After waiting a few minutes, curiosity got the better of me. I thought of her, then immediately felt the tenor of her mind. She hadn't gone far, and I wasn't the Volturi's tracker for nothing. I found her in a human store, ordering a cup of tea. Was she actually going to drink that?

I took a seat besides her. Without looking up from her phone, she spoke.

"Hey Demetri. You don't mind if I call you Demi, do you? Good."

"Who are you?" I asked. "What are you? How do you know who I am? What are you doing here?"

"So many questions. I guess, though, if I were in your place, I'd have just as many questions. My name is Thyme. I'm me. My father told me about you, and the rest of the Volturi, and I made a few logical inferences. I'm trying to get to Volterra."

One of her answers was obviously vague, and it was clear that she didn't want to answer it. I let it go for now.

She took a sip of her tea, which smelled disgusting to me. Yes, she definitely wasn't a vampire.

"You're going to Forks," she said. It wasn't a question.

"Yes," I answered anyway.

"Well, you're too late. The coven you're looking for is gone already. They've gone to Volterra."

When she'd said that they were gone, I had assumed that they had fled. That would have been an impossible task, since my tracking gift could find almost anyone, anywhere. But why would they have gone to Volterra, the very place they should be fleeing from?

"Which is why," she continued, "you're going to help me get to Italy." I found it interesting how she assumed that I would help her. I would, of course, there was no question about it. I needed to get back home anyway, and she intrigued me. I felt the strange urge to solve the mystery of who she was.

"Of course, ma'am," I replied. "Of course, Thyme." I liked the sound of her name on my tongue. Thyme.

* * *

Jupiter POV

The phone rang, and rang, and rang, until it went to the answering machine, a default one, that said nothing about the enigmatic girl who the number belonged to.

For the first time in five years, I had something to report, and she wasn't available to answer.

Thyme Spencer (though I doubted that that was her true name) had hired me, Jupiter Auklos, freelance private investigator, exactly two thousand seventy-one days ago to find a missing person, a woman believed to be dead by those who knew her. From the start, I had known that I was dealing with something beyond normal. I had had the reputation, when Miss Spencer had contacted me, of believing in the supernatural. As my competitors put it, I liked to pin the blame on things that didn't exist. Nevertheless, Thyme had wanted specifically me to research her supposedly dead mother. She had even told me specifically that this was a 'special' case. I had no doubt that 'special' meant supernatural.

My not-really-slight crush on the beautiful girl had also encouraged me to do whatever it took to solve the mystery. As Thyme had said, it was the unknown that hurt her most. A firm conclusion, even if it was that Parsley Spencer was dead, was better than not knowing, at least to Thyme. But a firm conclusion was not to be had. I had worked on the case for five years, but I had never found the slightest hint of an explanation. Until the vampire news had come out, and I had started asking myself, how did vampires fit in?

Looking through all the evidence I'd compiled throughout the years under a new lens, that Parsley Spencer could be a vampire, everything suddenly made sense. I had wanted to give Thyme an update and a warning, and to hear her lovely bell-toned voice, but she wasn't answering. I sighed and went back to work.


	8. Final

**Disclaimer: Stephanie Meyer owns the Twilight saga and its universe. No profit is made here and no offense intended.**

Olivia POV

BREAKING NEWS

The newly commissioned International Military's Vampire Defense Inc. has developed a weapon that can effectively destroy vampires. Sources that would prefer to remain anonymous have proven a fatal vampire weakness to fire, and though matches by themselves are not fast enough to destroy these monsters, the best scientists across the world, conscripted by the worldwide government, the International Government of Humanity (IGH), have created a sword of undisclosed materials that, when turned on, remains perpetually on fire, that can harm and kill vampires. These weapons of vampiric destruction have been handed over to the International Military, made up of men and women from across the world. We applaud these soldiers for their bravery in humanity's war against the monsters of our nightmares. All vampires that have been found and that will be found have or will be killed, as suited for their crimes against humanity.

Relatedly, all are reminded of some of IGH's new policies. These are all implanted for humanity's safety. One policy is the absence of necessity of a search warrant on private or public property, including, but not limited to, homes or dwellings, transportation vehicles, restaurants and other businesses, and public areas. Additionally, readers are reminded of the zero-tolerence policy, and that all humans who help vampires through actions, words, or otherwise, are traitors towards all humans and will be convicted as such. An example already had been made with the now-infamous "Vampires Are People Too" group, all members of whom have been arrested, including group leader and former reporter Saran Gopal. Arrests are being carried out by the Internal Security branch of the International Military.

Not all traits of vampires themselves have been catalogued, but those the IGH are aware of include an insatiable bloodlust that is only tempered by human blood, a crystalline reaction to sunlight, beautiful and pale appearances, red or black or gold eyes with dark circles underneath, super speed and strength, conditional immortality, weakness towards garlic and holy symbols, sleep in coffins, enhanced senses, inability to consume anything other than blood, and near indestructibility. Given these advantages, civilians are advised not to engage vampires alone, and to avoid public contact that could increase risk whenever possible. Anyone, and everyone, could be the next victim.

Written by Olivia O'Martin

Aureole POV

One advantage of the vampire reveal and phobia that was now sweeping the world was that the small restaurants that stayed open were willing to hire overtime. The absence of servers was what did that.

Of course, to earn money and support my two younger sisters and one little brother, I could join the military, which was sure to pay enough, but I wasn't eighteen yet, and there was a high casualty rate in the current war against vampires. Celestial, Equinox, and Lucifer wouldnt be able to survive if I died. Not that civilians were much safer; my father had been drained by a vampire still on the loose less than two months ago.

Honestly, the world was starting to look like some sort of dystopian future, like the kind I read about in books. The people who were lucky and 'smart' and had money saved up usually stayed holed up in their houses, only venturing out to restock on food and other necessities, but the people who didn't have enough money needed to work. There were also, of course, the people who didn't care, who believed in living their lives until they died of supernatural causes, which was why restaurants like the one I worked for still existed.

Today, I was one of the only two servers present, but then again, there were only five tables occupied, so it didn't really matter. That's why it was really obvious when they came in.

They were a picture-perfect pair, both beautiful and model-like. Of course, my mind immediately questioned if that was natural. Could that drop-dead gorgeous be literal? I looked at their eyes. No, it was impossible. She had grey eyes, he had dark brown. His skin was extremely pale, but hers was darker. Tanned, and everyone knew that vampires couldn't tan. Plus, why would two vampires come to a restaurant? The only thing they are was blood. Still, I paid extra attention to the two, more than that of their server's. I'd always been able to see, smell, and hear better than most, and I used that extra capability now.

"I'm curious," said the man, "have you ever considered vegetarianism?"

"No," she replied. "I can survive on anything, technically, but the idea of such a restricting diet just sounds unappealing to me. After all, a traditional diet is just like chosing not to be a vegetarian. There's the same difference in intellect. Animals are endangered, after all. If you're talking about what I am, well, I've always identified more with those like you. What about you?"

He shrugged. "It just never came up. But what about the question I've been asking you? Are you ever going to answer it?"

She smiled. "Maybe, but not now." He groaned theatrically.

They were silent for a while. She was staring at me expectantly, and at first, I couldn't figure out why.

Oh. I was supposed to be their server.

I approached their table. "Hi, my name's Aureole, and I'll be your server today. Is there any drinks I could get you?"

He shook his head, while she replied, "Just water for me."

I nodded. "Here are your menus. Just call me over when you're ready to order."

She glanced at the menu, while he didn't even touch it.

"Actually, I'll be ready to order now," she said. "Mushroom ravioli for me, please."

I looked at the man, who stared back at me as if he were bored. I couldn't help but notice that his brown eyes, up close, looked more like a dark red shade.

"Anything for the boyfriend?" I asked, after I was sure that he wouldn't speak first. The two looked at each other as if they were surprised.

"No, we are-" she began.

"Actually, we're just-" he started at the same time.

They looked at each other, then spoke as one. "Associates."

I snorted. Like that was believable. Even now, her hand was loosely touching his, over the table. Adding the fact that they had answered with the same unusual word, that they seemed to have an unusual connection with each other? There was no way they weren't together. Even though there was some horrible, boyfriend-stealing part of me that wanted to deny it, I knew it was true. Maybe they were keeping it a secret for some reason, like parents, though I couldn't see why anyone would think that they weren't perfect for each other. Or maybe, they just didn't see the mutual attraction between them. Maybe I should give them a hint.

"You two really are perfect for each other," I said. Let them make what they would of it.

I left the table, and gave the chefs the order, before returning to the table to eavesdrop some more.

They didn't say anything. They just looked into each other's eyes, dark brown meeting grey. Finally, she broke the connection.

"Demi, we can't. You know we can't."

He growled at that, the sound coming from his chest, almost an animalistic sound. "Why not? Why shouldn't we? Why should everyone else have a happily ever after, except us?"

She looked out the window. "You know why."

He took her hand. "Thyme. You're my mate, forever and always, and I'll always be yours. Nothing could possibly tear me away from you. So just admit it. You and I both know it's true. Even the waitress could see it. Say it."

She shook her head. "I can't. I can't give you what you want, especially given what I'm about to do. Anything we do, it will get rewritten. And admitting it, admitting what you want me to, it will just make the decision harder later on."

"So don't do it. Leave saving the world to someone else. It doesn't always have to be you."

She looked back at him. "Yes it does."

She stood up, and, as if by reflex, he did to. "I'm not hungry anymore, and we're on a limited schedule. Let's go."

They left, without waiting for their food to arrive. I couldn't figure them out, even after listening to their conversation. There was one thing I knew for sure, though. Her hand had been clasped in his as they had walked out of the door. She didn't need to say it, because anyone who saw it could see that it was true. They loved each other.

Aro POV

I smiled as I saw the seven members of the Cullen coven enter the room. Carlisle, of course, was a familiar face, as was Edward, from the video, whose eyes were no longer red but his usual yellow. The others, though, I had never met before. All of them had the characteristic golden eyes of animal-drinkers; it pleased me to see that my friend had ended up staying with his unusual diet, and that he'd even managed to convert six others to it.

"Carlisle, my old friend. It has been centuries," I greeted. "I am so sorry, though, that it has to be under these circumstances, but the law has been broken. You can see that we have no other choice. Broken rules demand punishment." I put out my hand to him, curious about what he meant to achieve by coming here to Volterra.

Carlisle turned his head to the small, black-haired vampire, instead. "Alice?" he asked. She had her eyes closed.

"Something weird's going on," she replied. "It's getting all blurry. But I think this should be fine."

Was she a gifted vampire? I wondered. If so, what could her gift be?

My old friend stepped forward, and put his hand in mine, granting me access to his memories. I saw how he had finally changed a human, though of course, a dying human, into one of our kind, then how his family had grown again and again, as more vampires joined. I saw many things, but what I was most interested was his children.

"Alice and Edward," I whispered. They truly were amazing. Seeing the future and reading minds without the burden of having to touch them. It was so inconvenient that they, that Edward had been the one to break the law. I couldn't think of a good way to spare them.

Then, I realized that he probably was listening to my thoughts.

Edward? I thought. Can you hear me? He nodded his head slightly, but with no emotion. I didn't need to be an empath to see how his slip and its implications towards his family had affected him.

Alice, whose gift I found even more spectacular than Edward's, spoke, directly at me this time. "We know that you really want Edward and my gifts, and it's not like your influence is going to last much longer, since no one sees the point of keeping the secret when humans already know it. We're willing to make a deal with you. Let us live, and we'll join your guard."

Interesting, it was as if they already knew how I cultivated talents like their own. And it was true that order in our world was dissolving anyway. But, to have no punishment for such a crime would set a terrible precedent, and I knew that if our rule was to continue in this changed world, we could not allow second chances.

"Or you could just kill me," Edward whispered. "But leave my family out of this." That did seem to be a better solution - execute only the one who had broken the law, and it was true that Edward's talent wasn't as necessary as Alice's. The other coven members, though, looked horrified at the idea, and I realized the issue.

"We must confer," I said, and it was true. Broken laws demanded punishment, but the gifts the Cullen coven could give us were also extraordinary.

"No! Wait!" Alice said quickly. "Something's going to change, I can't really see what, but a new option is going to pop up. It's faint, but I can see a future where we're all alive, where there is no problem. Just wait a week. Please."

I nodded. That seemed reasonable, and it wasn't like a week could possibly change things. Then, I looked to my brothers. Marcus, of course, looked bored, like he couldn't care less about these proceedings. It was such a shame.

Caius, on the other hand, looked furious that I was even considering not punishing the coven. Upon seeing my gaze on him, he hissed, "Are you insane? To allow our law to be so obviously broken, that would collapse our entire cause!"

"But think of what joys Alice and Edward could bring to us. And one week seems reasonable. We'll make our judgement then." My voice made it clear that my decision was final, and my brother fell silent.

I looked back to Alice, to the Cullens. "One week," I repeated.

Chapter 8: Redemption

Thyme POV

Demetri and I entered the hall together, hand in hand. Everyone was there, the Cullens, the entire Guard, the Ancients, even the wives. It looked like we were interrupting some important decision.

My heart pounded with anxiety and pain at what I would lose. The sound echoed through the otherwise silent hall, a fact which all of the vampires present noted, along with my grey eyes and flushed cheeks.

"Demetri!" the black-haired vampire at the center, Aro, greeted. "Welcome back! And who have you brought with you?"

Demi looked at me, then answered. "Everyone, this is Thyme."

Aro cocked his head, once it was clear that Demetri wasn't planning on saying anything more. "And why have you come, Thyme?" he asked.

I took a deep breath. This was what I had come for.

"Let me tell you a story," I began. "Once upon a time, there was a vampire named Sage. He was a fairly young vampire when he went to England and fell in love with a beautiful human girl. Her name was Parsley. Sage was willing to move mountains for Parsley, but what Parsley wanted most was something Sage could not give her: a child. She didn't want to adopt a child, she wanted to have the child of the man she loved most, Sage. They both knew that it was impossible, but they held onto the hope by keeping Parsley human. One day, the impossible happened. They found out that Parsley was pregnant.

"The baby developed far faster than a human child, and by the time one month had passed, Parsley looked about to give birth. The two had a plan, to transform Parsley into a vampire after she had given birth, to ensure her survival. Parsley was certain that the child was a girl, and wanted to name the girl after the song _Scarborough Fair_. She insisted that the child wanted to be called Thyme, but Sage thought that Rosemary sounded more like a girl's name. Twenty miles away, though, in Parsley's hometown, tragedy was about to strike. A female vampire named Svetlana had caught Parsley's scent, which was sweeter than anything she had ever smelled before. Parsley was her singer. She was determined to track Parsley down, and found her, one month pregnant. Knowing that this could be her end, Parsley made Sage promise that he would ensure their child's safety first, before Parsley's own. Svetlana found Parsley and pounced on her, severely injuring Parsley's head, but Sage quickly pulled her off of his mate, and the two fought. Because Svetlana was driven almost crazy by the sweet smell of Parsley's blood, Sage was easily able to overpower her. Before he could rip off her head, though, Parsley screamed. The baby was coming.

"Using the moment of distraction, Svetlana leaped to Parsley and bit her on the arm, but was quickly interrupted by Sage again. This time, he didn't hesitate. He killed her, burned her in a fire, then rushed to Parsley, where the baby was biting her way out of the womb. Remembering his promise, Sage ensured that the baby was safe first, then bit Parsley, over and over. He was too late, though. The venom wasn't able to save her before her heart stopped beating.

"Sage was ready to kill the baby for being the result of his mate's death, but he as looked into the child's dark grey eyes, so similar to Parsley's, he realized that this was what Parsley would have wanted, for their daughter to live, even if it meant her death. He realized that Parsley's daughter was something else for him to live for. That baby was me, Thyme. I am a vampire-human hybrid.

"I grew up quickly: I had the intelligence of about an adult human when I was born, but I physically stopped aging at age seven. Something you have to understand is Sage's ability, which is finding out information about someone's ability like he was reading a book, but only with their permission. When I was one, I felt a strange feeling, like a burst of energy had passed through me, not really uncomfortable, but not pleasant, either. It was then that we decided to test my gift. Sage was amazed by it, he had never seen something like it before. As it turned out, I can transport myself and a few others back in time, changing the future. Because the change of events that led to my going back in time would still exist, but that future wouldn't, and because the future me would disappear after five minutes, I could never remember what had happened that led to my going back in time, but after realizing that I would rewrite myself and everyone else in the world by going back in time, I decided not to go back in time unless I really needed to. Since I felt the energy two other times, I guessed that something had happened that I couldn't ignore. Just like this time.

"Because I can fix this. I can go back in time and keep that vampire from attacking that girl. I can keep the exposure from happening. But it would come at a cost, you know. Anything that happened to you, anything that's changed about you, might not change once the future changes. There are no guarantees, but one thing I do know for sure. Humans won't know about vampires in the new future. I'll make sure of that. I'll leave you to consider it."

I felt sure of what they would decide: yes. It was the better future for everyone except Demetri and I. As a rule, I avoided the Volturi, which meant that we would never meet, and we would never fall in love. I already felt heartbroken that a version of me would never fall in love, would never meet Demetri. But it was for the greater good. It was a sacrifice I was willing to make, I had to make.

They told me the plan, that I would take the vampire, Edward Cullen, who was a mind-reader, back, and that he would think messages specifically targeted to keep his past self from attacking, but the whole time, I was watching Demetri. His eyes were cold and hard, but I knew it was only a mask to keep his true feelings from showing. He was feeling the same pain as I was, that we would never meet again, never know love again. He wouldn't look at me. I knew that if our eyes met we would both break down. Still, I couldn't tear my eyes away from his dark crimson eyes, the eyes I had known for too little time, the eyes I loved.

"I can't change my location when I go back in time," I told them, so we took a private plane to Forks. They had been saving it for an emergency, but now, it didn't matter, because our reality was about to be rewound. I didn't know if it was better or worse that they sent Demetri to guard over us until we went back in time - it meant that I would see him until the end, but would also mean that it would be even harder to say goodbye. At least we would both end soon, him the moment Edward and I left for the past, and I after a few minutes in the past. Then the pain of losing him would be gone.

The mind-reader and I stood at the point we would travel from, by the forest, unseen by others but still within range of his telepathy. He was looking at me in pity, and I realized that he had read my mind, that he was still reading my pain at losing Demetri. He opened his mouth to say something, but I shook my head. Please don't, I told him with my thoughts. There's nothing you can say that will make this any easier.

I took his cold hands within my own, then closed my eyes. I began to draw up my power, something this version of me had never done before. I knew instinctively how to do it. It was a wonderful, amazing feeling, like a pure ray of sunshine shining through me, almost the opposite of the feeling I felt when another version of me traveled back. I opened my eyes at the last moment, and I realized that Edward and I were surrounded by brilliant strings of gold and silver. I looked at Demetri, my love, my mate. Our eyes met, dark crimson to dark grey, for the final time. I love you, I mouthed to him. He nodded, and I knew what he was saying, what he was thinking. As I love you_._

I focused on going back to January 18, 2018, right after lunch. The day Isabella Swan arrived at Forks High School. The period where Edward attacked his singer, starting the chaos throughout all the world.

When I opened my eyes again, I knew we were in the past. Edward had his eyes closed, and I knew he was working to stop the attack, stop the disaster that would follow. I couldn't tell what was happening, but when he opened his eyes, a few minutes later, and nodded at me, I knew it was okay.

We had saved the world.

With that thought, Edward and I began to fade into nothingness. It was almost a relaxing feeling. I thought of Demetri. I was glad my last thought was of love.

Edward POV

_Bella Swan walked into the flow of the heated air that blew toward me from the vent._

_Her scent hit me like wrecking ball, like a battering ram. There was no image violent enough to encapsulate the force of what happened to me in that moment._

_In that instant, I was nothing close to the human I'd once been; no trace of the shreds of humanity I'd managed to cloak myself in remained._

_I was a predator. She was my prey. There was nothing else in the whole world but that truth._

_There was no room full of witnesses—they were already collateral damage in my head. The mystery of her thoughts was forgotten. Her thoughts meant nothing, for she would not go on thinking them much longer._

_I was a vampire, and she had the sweetest blood I'd smelled in eighty years. I hadn't imagined such a scent could exist. If I'd known it did, I would have gone searching for it long ago. I would have combed the planet for her. I could imagine the taste...Thirst burned through my throat like fire. My mouth was baked and desiccated. The fresh flow of venom did nothing to dispel that sensation. My stomach twisted with the hunger that was an echo of the thirst. My muscles coiled to spring._

_Not a full second had passed. She was still taking the same step that had put her downwind from me._

_As her foot touched the ground, her eyes slid toward me, a movement she clearly meant to be stealthy. Her glance met mine, and I saw myself reflected in the wide mirror of her eyes._

_The shock of the face I saw there saved her life for a few thorny moments._

_She didn't make it easier. When she processed the expression on my face, blood flooded her cheeks again, turning her skin the most delicious color I'd ever seen. The scent was a thick haze in my brain. I could barely think through it. My thoughts raged, resisting control, incoherent._

_She walked more quickly now, as if she understood the need to escape. Her haste made her clumsy—she tripped and stumbled forward, almost falling into the girl seated in front of me. Vulnerable, weak. Even more than usual for a human._

_I tried to focus on the face I'd seen in her eyes, a face I recognized with revulsion. The face of the monster in me—the face I'd beaten back with decades of effort and uncompromising discipline. How easily it sprang to the surface now! The scent swirled around me again, scattering my thoughts and nearly propelling me out of my seat._

_No_, I heard myself say, almost as if it was someone else talking to me. This isn't you. Don't do it.

_My hand gripped under the edge of the table as I tried to hold myself in my chair. The wood was not up to the task. My hand crushed through the strut and came away with a palmful of splintered pulp, leaving the shape of my fingers carved into the remaining wood._

_Destroy evidence. That was a fundamental rule. I quickly pulverized the edges of the shape with my fingertips, leaving nothing but a ragged hole and a pile of shavings on the floor, which I scattered with my foot._

_Destroy evidence. Collateral damage...I knew what had to happen now. The girl would have to come sit beside me, and I would have to kill her._

Think of the others in the classroom! Would you kill all of them? The voice questioned, and it was right.

_The innocent bystanders in this classroom, eighteen other children and one man, could not be allowed to leave this room, having seen what they would soon see._

_I flinched at the thought of what I must do. Even at my very worst, I had never committed this kind of atrocity. I had never killed innocents, not in over eight decades. And now I planned to slaughter twenty of them at once._

_The face of the monster in the mirror mocked me._

Don't give into the monster, the voice said. But I could see no way to resist.

_Even as part of me shuddered away from the monster, another part was planning it._

_If I killed the girl first, I would have only fifteen or twenty seconds with her before the humans in the room would react. Maybe a little bit longer, if at first they did not realize what I was doing. She would not have time to scream or feel pain; I would not kill her cruelly. That much I could give this stranger with her horribly desirable blood._

_But then I would have to stop them from escaping. I wouldn't have to worry about the windows, too high up and small to provide an escape for anyone. Just the door—block that and they were trapped._

_It would be slower and more difficult, trying to take them all down when they were panicked and scrambling, moving in chaos. Not impossible, but there would be much more noise. Time for lots of screaming. Someone would hear...and I'd be forced to kill even more innocents in this black hour._

_And her blood would cool, while I murdered the others._

Don't be a monster, the voice pleaded, but it was getting fainter. Her scent was overpowering all my rational thoughts. _The scent punished me, closing my throat with dry aching...So the witnesses first then. I mapped it out in my head. I was in the middle of the room, the furthest row in the back. I would take my right side first. I could snap four or five of their necks per second, I estimated. It would not be noisy. The right side would be the lucky side; they would not see me coming. Moving around the front and back up the left side, it would take me, at most, five seconds to end every life in this room._

_Long enough for Bella Swan to see, briefly, what was coming for her. Long enough for her to feel fear. Long enough, maybe, if shock didn't freeze her in place, for her to work up a scream. One soft scream that would not bring anyone running._

_I took a deep breath, and the scent was a fire that raced through my dry veins, burning out from my chest to consume every better impulse that I was capable of._

_She was just turning now. In a few seconds, she would sit down inches away from me._

_The monster in my head smiled in anticipation._ Don't be a monster, the other part of me begged, but I paid no attention.

Think of Carlisle. Think of your family, the voice said. Just then, _someone slammed shut a folder on my left. I didn't look up to see which of the doomed humans it was. But the motion sent a wave of ordinary, unscented air wafting across my face._

_For one short second, I was able to think clearly. In that precious second, I saw two faces in my head, side by side. One was mine, or rather had been: the red-eyed monster that had killed so many people that I'd stop counting their numbers. Rationalized, justified murders. A killer of killers, a killer of other, less powerful monsters. It was a god complex, I acknowledged that—deciding who deserved a death sentence. It was a compromise with myself. I had fed on human blood, but only by the loosest definition. My victims were, in their various dark pastimes, barely more human than I was._

_The other face was Carlisle's. There was no resemblance between the two faces. They were bright day and blackest night._

_There was no reason for there to be a resemblance. Carlisle was not my father in the basic biological sense. We shared no common features. The similarity in our coloring was a product of what we were; every vampire had the same ice pale skin. The similarity in the color of our eyes was another matter—a reflection of a mutual choice._

_And yet, though there was no basis for a resemblance, I'd imagined that my face had begun to reflect his, to an extent, in the last seventy-odd years that I had embraced his choice and followed in his steps. My features had not changed, but it seemed to me like some of his wisdom had marked my expression, that a little of his compassion could be traced in the shape of my mouth, and hints of his patience were evident on my brow._

_All those tiny improvements were lost in the face of the monster. In a few moments, there would be nothing left in me that would reflect the years I'd spent with my creator, my mentor, my father in all the ways that counted. My eyes would glow red as a devil's; all likeness would be lost forever._

_In my head, Carlisle's kind eyes did not judge me. I knew that he would forgive me for this horrible act that I would do. Because he loved me. Because he thought I was better than I was. And he would still love me, even as I now proved him wrong._

_Bella Swan sat down in the chair next to me, her movements stiff and awkward—with fear?—and the scent of her blood bloomed in an inexorable cloud around me._

_I would prove my father wrong about me. The misery of this fact hurt almost as much as the fire in my throat._

_I leaned away from her in revulsion—revolted by the monster aching to take her. Why did she have to come here? Why did she have to exist? Why did she have to ruin the little peace I had in this non-life of mine? Why had this aggravating human ever been born? She would ruin me._

_I turned my face away from her, as a sudden fierce, unreasoning hatred washed through me. Who was this creature? Why me, why now? Why did I have to lose everything just because she happened to choose this unlikely town to appear in?_

_Why had she come here!_

_I didn't want to be the monster! I didn't want to kill this room full of harmless children! I didn't want to lose everything I'd gained in a lifetime of sacrifice and denial!_

_I wouldn't. She couldn't make me._

Exactly, the voice agreed.

_The scent was the problem, the hideously appealing scent of her blood. If there was only some way to resist...if only another gust of fresh air could clear my head._

_Bella Swan shook out her long, thick, mahogany hair in my direction._

_Was she insane? It was as if she were encouraging the monster! Taunting him._

_There was no friendly breeze to blow the smell away from me now. All would soon be lost._

_No, there was no helpful breeze. But_ you don't _have to breathe, _the voice reminded.

_I stopped the flow of air through my lungs; the relief was instantaneous, but incomplete. I still had the memory of the scent in my head, the taste of it on the back of my tongue. I wouldn't be able to resist even that for long. But perhaps I could resist for an hour. One hour. Just enough time to get out of this room full of victims, victims that maybe didn't have to be victims. If I could resist for one short hour._

_It was an uncomfortable feeling, not breathing. My body did not need oxygen, but it went against my instincts. I relied on scent more than my other senses in times of stress. It led the way in the hunt, it was the first warning in case of danger. I did not often came across something as dangerous as I was, but self-preservation was just as strong in my kind as it was in the average human._

_Uncomfortable, but manageable. More bearable than smelling her and not sinking my teeth through that fine, thin, see-through skin to the hot, wet, pulsing—An hour! Just one hour. I must not think of the scent, the taste._

_The silent girl kept her hair between us, leaning forward so that it spilled across her folder. I couldn't see her face, to try to read the emotions in her clear, deep eyes. Was this why she'd let her tresses fan out between us? To hide those eyes from me? Out of fear? Shyness? To keep her secrets from me?_

_My former irritation at being stymied by her soundless thoughts was weak and pale in comparison to the need—and the hate—that possessed me now. For I hated this frail woman-child beside me, hated her with all the fervor with which I clung to my former self, my love of my family, my dreams of being something better than what I was... Hating her, hating how she made me feel—it helped a little. Yes, the irritation I'd felt before was weak, but it, too, helped a little. I clung to any emotion that distracted me from imagining what she would taste like…_

The other voice was imagining what she would taste like, then banished the thought. Don't think about what she would taste like, it ordered.

_Hate and irritation. Impatience. Would the hour never pass? And when the hour ended... Then she would walk out of this room. And I would do what? _Anything to not attack her, the voice responded.

_I could introduce myself. Hello, my name is Edward Cullen. May I walk you to your next class?_

_She would say yes. It would be the polite thing to do. Even already fearing me, as I suspected she did, she would follow convention and walk beside me. It should be easy enough to lead her in the wrong direction. A spur of the forest reached out like a finger to touch the back corner of the parking lot. I could tell her I'd forgotten a book in my car…_

_Would anyone notice that I was the last person she'd been seen with? It was raining, as usual; two dark raincoats heading the wrong direction wouldn't pique too much interest, or give me away._

_Except that I was not the only student who was aware of her today—though no one was as blisteringly aware as I was. Mike Newton, in particular, was conscious of every shift in her weight as she fidgeted in her chair—she was uncomfortable so close to me, just as anyone would be, just as I'd expected before her scent had destroyed all charitable concern. Mike Newton would notice if she left the classroom with me._

_If I could last an hour, could I last two? I flinched at the pain of the burning._

_She would go home to an empty house. Police Chief Swan worked a full day. I knew his house, as I knew every house in the tiny town. His home was nestled right up against thick woods, with no close neighbors. Even if she had time to scream, which she would not, there would be no one to hear._

_That would be the responsible way to deal with this. I'd gone seven decades without human blood. If I held my breath, I could last two hours. And when I had her alone, there would be no chance of anyone else getting hurt. And no reason to rush through the experience, the monster in my head agreed._

_It was sophistry to think that by saving the nineteen humans in this room with effort and patience, I would be less a monster when I killed this innocent girl._

_Though I hated her, I knew my hatred was unjust. I knew that what I really hated was myself. And I would hate us both so much more when she was dead._

_I made it through the hour in this way—imagining the best ways to kill her. I tried to avoid imagining the actual act. That might be too much for me; I might lose this battle and end up killing everyone in sight. So I planned strategy, and nothing more. It carried me through the hour._

_Once, toward the very end, she peeked up at me through the fluid wall of her hair. I could feel the unjustified hatred burning out of me as I met her gaze—see the reflection of it in her frightened eyes. Blood painted her cheek before she could hide in her hair again, and I was nearly undone._

_But the bell rang. Saved by the bell—how cliché. We were both saved. She, saved from death. I, saved for just a short time from being the nightmarish creature I feared and loathed._

_I couldn't walk as slowly as I should as I darted from the room. If anyone had been looking at me, they might have suspected that there was something not right about the way I moved. No one was paying attention to me. All human thoughts still swirled around the girl who was condemned to die in little more than an hour's time._

But you did it, the voice said, its volume fading. You did it. You didn't kill them all.

As I moved towards my car, planning to hide out in it, I could have sworn that the voice said, Goodbye, before it disappeared altogether, but that was impossible. It was probably just my imagination.

Bella POV

_When we entered the classroom, Angela went to sit at a black-topped table exactly like the ones I was used to. She already had a neighbor. In fact, all the tables were filled but one. Next to the center aisle, I recognized Edward Cullen by his unusual hair, sitting next to that single open seat._

_As I walked down the aisle to introduce myself to the teacher and get my slip signed, I was watching him surreptitiously. Just as I passed, he suddenly went rigid in his seat. He stared at me again, meeting my eyes with the strangest expression on his face - it was hostile, furious. I looked away quickly, shocked, going red again. I stumbled over a book in the walkway and had to catch myself on the edge of the table. The girl sitting there giggled._

_I'd noticed that his eyes were black - coal black._

_Mr. Banner signed my slip and handed me a book with no nonsense about introductions. I could tell we were going to get along. Of course, he had no choice but to send me to the one open seat in the middle of the room. I kept my eyes down as I went to sit by him, bewildered by the antagonistic stare he'd given me._

_I didn't look up as I set my book on the table and took my seat, but I saw his posture change from the corner of my eye. He was leaning away from me, sitting on the extreme edge of his chair and averting his face like he smelled something bad. Inconspicuously, I sniffed my hair. It smelled like strawberries, the scent of my favorite shampoo. It seemed an innocent enough odor. I let my hair fall over my right shoulder, making a dark curtain between us, and tried to pay attention to the teacher._

_Unfortunately the lecture was on cellular anatomy, something I'd already studied. I took notes carefully anyway, always looking down._

_I couldn't stop myself from peeking occasionally through the screen of my hair at the strange boy next to me. During the whole class, he never relaxed his stiff position on the edge of his chair, sitting as far from me as possible. I could see his hand on his left leg was clenched into a fist, tendons standing out under his pale skin. This, too, he never relaxed. He had the long sleeves of his white shirt pushed up to his elbows, and his forearm was surprisingly hard and muscular beneath his light skin. He wasn't nearly as slight as he'd looked next to his burly brother._

_The class seemed to drag on longer than the others. Was it because the day was finally coming to a close, or because I was waiting for his tight fist to loosen? It never did; he continued to sit so still it looked like he wasn't breathing. What was wrong with him? Was this his normal behavior? I questioned my judgment on Jessica's bitterness at lunch today. Maybe she was not as resentful as I'd thought._

_It couldn't have anything to do with me. He didn't know me from Eve._

_I peeked up at him one more time, and regretted it. He was glaring down at me again, his black eyes full of revulsion. As I flinched away from him, shrinking against my chair, the phrase if looks could kill suddenly ran through my mind._

_At that moment, the bell rang loudly, making me jump, and Edward Cullen was out of his seat. Fluidly he rose - he was much taller than I'd thought - his back to me, and he was out the door before anyone else was out of their seat._

_I sat frozen in my seat, staring blankly after him. He was so mean. It wasn't fair. I began gathering up my things slowly, trying the block the anger that filled me, for fear my eyes would tear up. For some reason, my temper was hardwired to my tear ducts. I usually cried when I was angry, a humiliating tendency._

As I prepared to leave, I happened to look out the window. I saw a flash of gold by the trees, but when I looked again, the color was gone.

For some reason, though, I got the feeling that my life had just been saved.

Things to note:

Parsley, Sage, Rosemary, and Thyme

Thyme uses the fake last name Nelluc, which is Cullen

Seth has trouble thinking of Alec as an it


	9. Redemption

**Disclaimer: Stephanie Meyer owns the Twilight saga and its universe. No profit is made here and no offense intended.**

Thyme POV

Demetri and I entered the hall together, hand in hand. Everyone was there, the Cullens, the entire Guard, the Ancients, even the wives. It looked like we were interrupting some important decision.

My heart pounded with anxiety and pain at what I would lose. The sound echoed through the otherwise silent hall, a fact which all of the vampires present noted, along with my grey eyes and flushed cheeks.

"Demetri!" the black-haired vampire at the center, Aro, greeted. "Welcome back! And who have you brought with you?"

Demi looked at me, then answered. "Everyone, this is Thyme."

Aro cocked his head, once it was clear that Demetri wasn't planning on saying anything more. "And why have you come, Thyme?" he asked.

I took a deep breath. This was what I had come for.

"Let me tell you a story," I began. "Once upon a time, there was a vampire named Sage. He was a fairly young vampire when he went to England and fell in love with a beautiful human girl. Her name was Parsley. Sage was willing to move mountains for Parsley, but what Parsley wanted most was something Sage could not give her: a child. She didn't want to adopt a child, she wanted to have the child of the man she loved most, Sage. They both knew that it was impossible, but they held onto the hope by keeping Parsley human. One day, the impossible happened. They found out that Parsley was pregnant.

"The baby developed far faster than a human child, and by the time one month had passed, Parsley looked about to give birth. The two had a plan, to transform Parsley into a vampire after she had given birth, to ensure her survival. Parsley was certain that the child was a girl, and wanted to name the girl after the song _Scarborough Fair_. She insisted that the child wanted to be called Thyme, but Sage thought that Rosemary sounded more like a girl's name. Twenty miles away, though, in Parsley's hometown, tragedy was about to strike. A female vampire named Svetlana had caught Parsley's scent, which was sweeter than anything she had ever smelled before. Parsley was her singer. She was determined to track Parsley down, and found her, one month pregnant. Knowing that this could be her end, Parsley made Sage promise that he would ensure their child's safety first, before Parsley's own. Svetlana found Parsley and pounced on her, severely injuring Parsley's head, but Sage quickly pulled her off of his mate, and the two fought. Because Svetlana was driven almost crazy by the sweet smell of Parsley's blood, Sage was easily able to overpower her. Before he could rip off her head, though, Parsley screamed. The baby was coming.

"Using the moment of distraction, Svetlana leaped to Parsley and bit her on the arm, but was quickly interrupted by Sage again. This time, he didn't hesitate. He killed her, burned her in a fire, then rushed to Parsley, where the baby was biting her way out of the womb. Remembering his promise, Sage ensured that the baby was safe first, then bit Parsley, over and over. He was too late, though. The venom wasn't able to save her before her heart stopped beating.

"Sage was ready to kill the baby for being the result of his mate's death, but he as looked into the child's dark grey eyes, so similar to Parsley's, he realized that this was what Parsley would have wanted, for their daughter to live, even if it meant her death. He realized that Parsley's daughter was something else for him to live for. That baby was me, Thyme. I am a vampire-human hybrid.

"I grew up quickly: I had the intelligence of about an adult human when I was born, but I physically stopped aging at age seven. Something you have to understand is Sage's ability, which is finding out information about someone's ability like he was reading a book, but only with their permission. When I was one, I felt a strange feeling, like a burst of energy had passed through me, not really uncomfortable, but not pleasant, either. It was then that we decided to test my gift. Sage was amazed by it, he had never seen something like it before. As it turned out, I can transport myself and a few others back in time, changing the future. Because the change of events that led to my going back in time would still exist, but that future wouldn't, and because the future me would disappear after five minutes, I could never remember what had happened that led to my going back in time, but after realizing that I would rewrite myself and everyone else in the world by going back in time, I decided not to go back in time unless I really needed to. Since I felt the energy two other times, I guessed that something had happened that I couldn't ignore. Just like this time.

"Because I can fix this. I can go back in time and keep that vampire from attacking that girl. I can keep the exposure from happening. But it would come at a cost, you know. Anything that happened to you, anything that's changed about you, might not change once the future changes. There are no guarantees, but one thing I do know for sure. Humans won't know about vampires in the new future. I'll make sure of that. I'll leave you to consider it."

I felt sure of what they would decide: yes. It was the better future for everyone except Demetri and I. As a rule, I avoided the Volturi, which meant that we would never meet, and we would never fall in love. I already felt heartbroken that a version of me would never fall in love, would never meet Demetri. But it was for the greater good. It was a sacrifice I was willing to make, I had to make.

They told me the plan, that I would take the vampire, Edward Cullen, who was a mind-reader, back, and that he would think messages specifically targeted to keep his past self from attacking, but the whole time, I was watching Demetri. His eyes were cold and hard, but I knew it was only a mask to keep his true feelings from showing. He was feeling the same pain as I was, that we would never meet again, never know love again. He wouldn't look at me. I knew that if our eyes met we would both break down. Still, I couldn't tear my eyes away from his dark crimson eyes, the eyes I had known for too little time, the eyes I loved.

"I can't change my location when I go back in time," I told them, so we took a private plane to Forks. They had been saving it for an emergency, but now, it didn't matter, because our reality was about to be rewound. I didn't know if it was better or worse that they sent Demetri to guard over us until we went back in time - it meant that I would see him until the end, but would also mean that it would be even harder to say goodbye. At least we would both end soon, him the moment Edward and I left for the past, and I after a few minutes in the past. Then the pain of losing him would be gone.

The mind-reader and I stood at the point we would travel from, by the forest, unseen by others but still within range of his telepathy. He was looking at me in pity, and I realized that he had read my mind, that he was still reading my pain at losing Demetri. He opened his mouth to say something, but I shook my head. Please don't, I told him with my thoughts. There's nothing you can say that will make this any easier.

I took his cold hands within my own, then closed my eyes. I began to draw up my power, something this version of me had never done before. I knew instinctively how to do it. It was a wonderful, amazing feeling, like a pure ray of sunshine shining through me, almost the opposite of the feeling I felt when another version of me traveled back. I opened my eyes at the last moment, and I realized that Edward and I were surrounded by brilliant strings of gold and silver. I looked at Demetri, my love, my mate. Our eyes met, dark crimson to dark grey, for the final time. I love you, I mouthed to him. He nodded, and I knew what he was saying, what he was thinking. As I love you_._

I focused on going back to January 18, 2018, right after lunch. The day Isabella Swan arrived at Forks High School. The period where Edward attacked his singer, starting the chaos throughout all the world.

When I opened my eyes again, I knew we were in the past. Edward had his eyes closed, and I knew he was working to stop the attack, stop the disaster that would follow. I couldn't tell what was happening, but when he opened his eyes, a few minutes later, and nodded at me, I knew it was okay.

We had saved the world.

With that thought, Edward and I began to fade into nothingness. It was almost a relaxing feeling. I thought of Demetri. I was glad my last thought was of love.

Edward POV

_Bella Swan walked into the flow of the heated air that blew toward me from the vent._

_Her scent hit me like wrecking ball, like a battering ram. There was no image violent enough to encapsulate the force of what happened to me in that moment._

_In that instant, I was nothing close to the human I'd once been; no trace of the shreds of humanity I'd managed to cloak myself in remained._

_I was a predator. She was my prey. There was nothing else in the whole world but that truth._

_There was no room full of witnesses—they were already collateral damage in my head. The mystery of her thoughts was forgotten. Her thoughts meant nothing, for she would not go on thinking them much longer._

_I was a vampire, and she had the sweetest blood I'd smelled in eighty years. I hadn't imagined such a scent could exist. If I'd known it did, I would have gone searching for it long ago. I would have combed the planet for her. I could imagine the taste...Thirst burned through my throat like fire. My mouth was baked and desiccated. The fresh flow of venom did nothing to dispel that sensation. My stomach twisted with the hunger that was an echo of the thirst. My muscles coiled to spring._

_Not a full second had passed. She was still taking the same step that had put her downwind from me._

_As her foot touched the ground, her eyes slid toward me, a movement she clearly meant to be stealthy. Her glance met mine, and I saw myself reflected in the wide mirror of her eyes._

_The shock of the face I saw there saved her life for a few thorny moments._

_She didn't make it easier. When she processed the expression on my face, blood flooded her cheeks again, turning her skin the most delicious color I'd ever seen. The scent was a thick haze in my brain. I could barely think through it. My thoughts raged, resisting control, incoherent._

_She walked more quickly now, as if she understood the need to escape. Her haste made her clumsy—she tripped and stumbled forward, almost falling into the girl seated in front of me. Vulnerable, weak. Even more than usual for a human._

_I tried to focus on the face I'd seen in her eyes, a face I recognized with revulsion. The face of the monster in me—the face I'd beaten back with decades of effort and uncompromising discipline. How easily it sprang to the surface now! The scent swirled around me again, scattering my thoughts and nearly propelling me out of my seat._

_No_, I heard myself say, almost as if it was someone else talking to me. This isn't you. Don't do it.

_My hand gripped under the edge of the table as I tried to hold myself in my chair. The wood was not up to the task. My hand crushed through the strut and came away with a palmful of splintered pulp, leaving the shape of my fingers carved into the remaining wood._

_Destroy evidence. That was a fundamental rule. I quickly pulverized the edges of the shape with my fingertips, leaving nothing but a ragged hole and a pile of shavings on the floor, which I scattered with my foot._

_Destroy evidence. Collateral damage...I knew what had to happen now. The girl would have to come sit beside me, and I would have to kill her._

Think of the others in the classroom! Would you kill all of them? The voice questioned, and it was right.

_The innocent bystanders in this classroom, eighteen other children and one man, could not be allowed to leave this room, having seen what they would soon see._

_I flinched at the thought of what I must do. Even at my very worst, I had never committed this kind of atrocity. I had never killed innocents, not in over eight decades. And now I planned to slaughter twenty of them at once._

_The face of the monster in the mirror mocked me._

Don't give into the monster, the voice said. But I could see no way to resist.

_Even as part of me shuddered away from the monster, another part was planning it._

_If I killed the girl first, I would have only fifteen or twenty seconds with her before the humans in the room would react. Maybe a little bit longer, if at first they did not realize what I was doing. She would not have time to scream or feel pain; I would not kill her cruelly. That much I could give this stranger with her horribly desirable blood._

_But then I would have to stop them from escaping. I wouldn't have to worry about the windows, too high up and small to provide an escape for anyone. Just the door—block that and they were trapped._

_It would be slower and more difficult, trying to take them all down when they were panicked and scrambling, moving in chaos. Not impossible, but there would be much more noise. Time for lots of screaming. Someone would hear...and I'd be forced to kill even more innocents in this black hour._

_And her blood would cool, while I murdered the others._

Don't be a monster, the voice pleaded, but it was getting fainter. Her scent was overpowering all my rational thoughts. _The scent punished me, closing my throat with dry aching...So the witnesses first then. I mapped it out in my head. I was in the middle of the room, the furthest row in the back. I would take my right side first. I could snap four or five of their necks per second, I estimated. It would not be noisy. The right side would be the lucky side; they would not see me coming. Moving around the front and back up the left side, it would take me, at most, five seconds to end every life in this room._

_Long enough for Bella Swan to see, briefly, what was coming for her. Long enough for her to feel fear. Long enough, maybe, if shock didn't freeze her in place, for her to work up a scream. One soft scream that would not bring anyone running._

_I took a deep breath, and the scent was a fire that raced through my dry veins, burning out from my chest to consume every better impulse that I was capable of._

_She was just turning now. In a few seconds, she would sit down inches away from me._

_The monster in my head smiled in anticipation._ Don't be a monster, the other part of me begged, but I paid no attention.

Think of Carlisle. Think of your family, the voice said. Just then, _someone slammed shut a folder on my left. I didn't look up to see which of the doomed humans it was. But the motion sent a wave of ordinary, unscented air wafting across my face._

_For one short second, I was able to think clearly. In that precious second, I saw two faces in my head, side by side. One was mine, or rather had been: the red-eyed monster that had killed so many people that I'd stop counting their numbers. Rationalized, justified murders. A killer of killers, a killer of other, less powerful monsters. It was a god complex, I acknowledged that—deciding who deserved a death sentence. It was a compromise with myself. I had fed on human blood, but only by the loosest definition. My victims were, in their various dark pastimes, barely more human than I was._

_The other face was Carlisle's. There was no resemblance between the two faces. They were bright day and blackest night._

_There was no reason for there to be a resemblance. Carlisle was not my father in the basic biological sense. We shared no common features. The similarity in our coloring was a product of what we were; every vampire had the same ice pale skin. The similarity in the color of our eyes was another matter—a reflection of a mutual choice._

_And yet, though there was no basis for a resemblance, I'd imagined that my face had begun to reflect his, to an extent, in the last seventy-odd years that I had embraced his choice and followed in his steps. My features had not changed, but it seemed to me like some of his wisdom had marked my expression, that a little of his compassion could be traced in the shape of my mouth, and hints of his patience were evident on my brow._

_All those tiny improvements were lost in the face of the monster. In a few moments, there would be nothing left in me that would reflect the years I'd spent with my creator, my mentor, my father in all the ways that counted. My eyes would glow red as a devil's; all likeness would be lost forever._

_In my head, Carlisle's kind eyes did not judge me. I knew that he would forgive me for this horrible act that I would do. Because he loved me. Because he thought I was better than I was. And he would still love me, even as I now proved him wrong._

_Bella Swan sat down in the chair next to me, her movements stiff and awkward—with fear?—and the scent of her blood bloomed in an inexorable cloud around me._

_I would prove my father wrong about me. The misery of this fact hurt almost as much as the fire in my throat._

_I leaned away from her in revulsion—revolted by the monster aching to take her. Why did she have to come here? Why did she have to exist? Why did she have to ruin the little peace I had in this non-life of mine? Why had this aggravating human ever been born? She would ruin me._

_I turned my face away from her, as a sudden fierce, unreasoning hatred washed through me. Who was this creature? Why me, why now? Why did I have to lose everything just because she happened to choose this unlikely town to appear in?_

_Why had she come here!_

_I didn't want to be the monster! I didn't want to kill this room full of harmless children! I didn't want to lose everything I'd gained in a lifetime of sacrifice and denial!_

_I wouldn't. She couldn't make me._

Exactly, the voice agreed.

_The scent was the problem, the hideously appealing scent of her blood. If there was only some way to resist...if only another gust of fresh air could clear my head._

_Bella Swan shook out her long, thick, mahogany hair in my direction._

_Was she insane? It was as if she were encouraging the monster! Taunting him._

_There was no friendly breeze to blow the smell away from me now. All would soon be lost._

_No, there was no helpful breeze. But_ you don't _have to breathe, _the voice reminded.

_I stopped the flow of air through my lungs; the relief was instantaneous, but incomplete. I still had the memory of the scent in my head, the taste of it on the back of my tongue. I wouldn't be able to resist even that for long. But perhaps I could resist for an hour. One hour. Just enough time to get out of this room full of victims, victims that maybe didn't have to be victims. If I could resist for one short hour._

_It was an uncomfortable feeling, not breathing. My body did not need oxygen, but it went against my instincts. I relied on scent more than my other senses in times of stress. It led the way in the hunt, it was the first warning in case of danger. I did not often came across something as dangerous as I was, but self-preservation was just as strong in my kind as it was in the average human._

_Uncomfortable, but manageable. More bearable than smelling her and not sinking my teeth through that fine, thin, see-through skin to the hot, wet, pulsing—An hour! Just one hour. I must not think of the scent, the taste._

_The silent girl kept her hair between us, leaning forward so that it spilled across her folder. I couldn't see her face, to try to read the emotions in her clear, deep eyes. Was this why she'd let her tresses fan out between us? To hide those eyes from me? Out of fear? Shyness? To keep her secrets from me?_

_My former irritation at being stymied by her soundless thoughts was weak and pale in comparison to the need—and the hate—that possessed me now. For I hated this frail woman-child beside me, hated her with all the fervor with which I clung to my former self, my love of my family, my dreams of being something better than what I was... Hating her, hating how she made me feel—it helped a little. Yes, the irritation I'd felt before was weak, but it, too, helped a little. I clung to any emotion that distracted me from imagining what she would taste like…_

The other voice was imagining what she would taste like, then banished the thought. Don't think about what she would taste like, it ordered.

_Hate and irritation. Impatience. Would the hour never pass? And when the hour ended... Then she would walk out of this room. And I would do what? _Anything to not attack her, the voice responded.

_I could introduce myself. Hello, my name is Edward Cullen. May I walk you to your next class?_

_She would say yes. It would be the polite thing to do. Even already fearing me, as I suspected she did, she would follow convention and walk beside me. It should be easy enough to lead her in the wrong direction. A spur of the forest reached out like a finger to touch the back corner of the parking lot. I could tell her I'd forgotten a book in my car…_

_Would anyone notice that I was the last person she'd been seen with? It was raining, as usual; two dark raincoats heading the wrong direction wouldn't pique too much interest, or give me away._

_Except that I was not the only student who was aware of her today—though no one was as blisteringly aware as I was. Mike Newton, in particular, was conscious of every shift in her weight as she fidgeted in her chair—she was uncomfortable so close to me, just as anyone would be, just as I'd expected before her scent had destroyed all charitable concern. Mike Newton would notice if she left the classroom with me._

_If I could last an hour, could I last two? I flinched at the pain of the burning._

_She would go home to an empty house. Police Chief Swan worked a full day. I knew his house, as I knew every house in the tiny town. His home was nestled right up against thick woods, with no close neighbors. Even if she had time to scream, which she would not, there would be no one to hear._

_That would be the responsible way to deal with this. I'd gone seven decades without human blood. If I held my breath, I could last two hours. And when I had her alone, there would be no chance of anyone else getting hurt. And no reason to rush through the experience, the monster in my head agreed._

_It was sophistry to think that by saving the nineteen humans in this room with effort and patience, I would be less a monster when I killed this innocent girl._

_Though I hated her, I knew my hatred was unjust. I knew that what I really hated was myself. And I would hate us both so much more when she was dead._

_I made it through the hour in this way—imagining the best ways to kill her. I tried to avoid imagining the actual act. That might be too much for me; I might lose this battle and end up killing everyone in sight. So I planned strategy, and nothing more. It carried me through the hour._

_Once, toward the very end, she peeked up at me through the fluid wall of her hair. I could feel the unjustified hatred burning out of me as I met her gaze—see the reflection of it in her frightened eyes. Blood painted her cheek before she could hide in her hair again, and I was nearly undone._

_But the bell rang. Saved by the bell—how cliché. We were both saved. She, saved from death. I, saved for just a short time from being the nightmarish creature I feared and loathed._

_I couldn't walk as slowly as I should as I darted from the room. If anyone had been looking at me, they might have suspected that there was something not right about the way I moved. No one was paying attention to me. All human thoughts still swirled around the girl who was condemned to die in little more than an hour's time._

But you did it, the voice said, its volume fading. You did it. You didn't kill them all.

As I moved towards my car, planning to hide out in it, I could have sworn that the voice said, Goodbye, before it disappeared altogether, but that was impossible. It was probably just my imagination.

Bella POV

_When we entered the classroom, Angela went to sit at a black-topped table exactly like the ones I was used to. She already had a neighbor. In fact, all the tables were filled but one. Next to the center aisle, I recognized Edward Cullen by his unusual hair, sitting next to that single open seat._

_As I walked down the aisle to introduce myself to the teacher and get my slip signed, I was watching him surreptitiously. Just as I passed, he suddenly went rigid in his seat. He stared at me again, meeting my eyes with the strangest expression on his face - it was hostile, furious. I looked away quickly, shocked, going red again. I stumbled over a book in the walkway and had to catch myself on the edge of the table. The girl sitting there giggled._

_I'd noticed that his eyes were black - coal black._

_Mr. Banner signed my slip and handed me a book with no nonsense about introductions. I could tell we were going to get along. Of course, he had no choice but to send me to the one open seat in the middle of the room. I kept my eyes down as I went to sit by him, bewildered by the antagonistic stare he'd given me._

_I didn't look up as I set my book on the table and took my seat, but I saw his posture change from the corner of my eye. He was leaning away from me, sitting on the extreme edge of his chair and averting his face like he smelled something bad. Inconspicuously, I sniffed my hair. It smelled like strawberries, the scent of my favorite shampoo. It seemed an innocent enough odor. I let my hair fall over my right shoulder, making a dark curtain between us, and tried to pay attention to the teacher._

_Unfortunately the lecture was on cellular anatomy, something I'd already studied. I took notes carefully anyway, always looking down._

_I couldn't stop myself from peeking occasionally through the screen of my hair at the strange boy next to me. During the whole class, he never relaxed his stiff position on the edge of his chair, sitting as far from me as possible. I could see his hand on his left leg was clenched into a fist, tendons standing out under his pale skin. This, too, he never relaxed. He had the long sleeves of his white shirt pushed up to his elbows, and his forearm was surprisingly hard and muscular beneath his light skin. He wasn't nearly as slight as he'd looked next to his burly brother._

_The class seemed to drag on longer than the others. Was it because the day was finally coming to a close, or because I was waiting for his tight fist to loosen? It never did; he continued to sit so still it looked like he wasn't breathing. What was wrong with him? Was this his normal behavior? I questioned my judgment on Jessica's bitterness at lunch today. Maybe she was not as resentful as I'd thought._

_It couldn't have anything to do with me. He didn't know me from Eve._

_I peeked up at him one more time, and regretted it. He was glaring down at me again, his black eyes full of revulsion. As I flinched away from him, shrinking against my chair, the phrase if looks could kill suddenly ran through my mind._

_At that moment, the bell rang loudly, making me jump, and Edward Cullen was out of his seat. Fluidly he rose - he was much taller than I'd thought - his back to me, and he was out the door before anyone else was out of their seat._

_I sat frozen in my seat, staring blankly after him. He was so mean. It wasn't fair. I began gathering up my things slowly, trying the block the anger that filled me, for fear my eyes would tear up. For some reason, my temper was hardwired to my tear ducts. I usually cried when I was angry, a humiliating tendency._

As I prepared to leave, I happened to look out the window. I saw a flash of gold by the trees, but when I looked again, the color was gone.

For some reason, though, I got the feeling that my life had just been saved.


	10. Epilogue

**Disclaimer: Stephanie Meyer owns the Twilight saga and its universe. No profit is made here and no offense intended.**

The world had just been saved, again, and I was the only one who knew it.

Each time reality had been changed, I had known it. I could see the chains of causality, the different multiverses, so I could see the sacrifices that had been made, as well as the lives that had been saved.

But my main focus now was not to figure out the story behind what had happened, or to see different stories of what could happen. It was to do something I had waited my entire existence to do, something I never could have done before. It had taken five time-rewinds for this to have been possible, but finally, it was.

Because my power could also sense the focus points of the changes in our reality. Not very well, only enough to get a general sense of the direction the focus point was. The other five times, I had been too far away, but now, I was close enough that it was possible. I could find the points, but more importantly, I could find her.

Thyme was the force behind all of this. She was the focus point, both her future self who traveled back in time, and her present self who felt the shift. I could find both points, but only one mattered. The one that still existed, only hours after the rewind.

At each decision, different universes appeared, and it was simple enough to sort through them to find which one would lead me to Thyme, to someone I hadn't seen in fourteen years.

She was living on campus in a dormitory at the University of Washington, in a single room. She was studying mythology, ironic given what she was and what she knew about real-life 'mythical beings'. She didn't live far from her father, Sage, and had called him earlier once she had felt the energy again; Sage probably was still with her now.

I could see the building where she lived, now. I was at the door. I waited for someone to open the door, then entered the building. I could smell her and Sage, and followed the scents to Thyme's room, room 207.

I was unexpectedly nervous, for some reason. I took a deep breath, though I didn't need it, and knocked on the door.

Thyme opened it, and I saw her dark grey eyes flash with surprise and recognition. Sage came up behind her, and I could tell the moment he realized who I was; he seemed to freeze with shock.

Thyme was the first to snap out of the shock. She spoke quietly, as if saying it out loud would make me disappear. "Parsley?" she asked incredulously?

I smiled for the first time in fourteen years, then stepped into the room and hugged my beautiful, grown-up daughter, and the love of my life, my vampire mate.

"Yes."

**A/N:**

**Thank you to everyone who's read my story, and especially to those who've reviewed, favorited, or followed. This is my first fanfic, so it's been really encouraging to have so many people say that they liked my story. I don't usually like to leave author's notes, since I personally like to get down to the actual story, and because I don't really think that there needs to be communication between the author and the reader, so I probably won't leave author's notes except for at the end of a story.**

**Firstly, if you read my bio, you can learn more about how time-travel works in my universe, and also about my inspiration for my different stories, which for now includes this story, its sequel, and a planned second series. If you haven't checked out my second story, Searching for the Light, I highly recommend you do so. It has a very different style than this one, since its more focused on character development and stays in a single perspective, and also does not happen in the same universe as this one does.**

**Secondly, I'm planning on writing a sequel to this story, called Reality, which will causality-wise take place after this one, but time-wise take place after Breaking Dawn, then before Twilight. Something important I need to plan out for this is the situations in which Thyme has gone back in time previously (twice before Rewind begins). My idea is that the problem each time will be some vampire breaking the law, and human technology meaning that it would spread really quickly, but I don't have any ideas about the specific scenarios. If anyone has any ideas, please leave PM me or leave me a review about it!**

**Again, thanks to everyone for reading my story, I really hope you've enjoyed it; I certainly have enjoyed writing it.**

**\- Sunlight3146**


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